


Why The Caged Bird Sings

by thatdamnuchiha



Series: In the Company of Elves [13]
Category: Naruto, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: And By Slow Build and Slow Burn I Mean It Takes a Few Thousand Years, Angst, BAMF Haruno Sakura, Crossover, Dark, Eriador, Eventual Romance, Everyone Has Issues, F/M, First Age, Forgiveness, Freedom, Haruno Sakura-centric, Hurt/Comfort, I haven't decided, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Torture, Imprisonment, Long-Haired Haruno Sakura, Middle Earth, Not Canon Compliant, POV Haruno Sakura, POV Third Person, Past Torture, Post-Silmarillion, Pre-Lord of The Rings, Protective Haruno Sakura, Protectiveness, Redemption, Sakura Has Impractically Long Hair, Second Age, She Rocks It Though, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow To Update, Some Characters aren't mentioned in the tags, Strong Haruno Sakura, The Long Road to Redemption, Third Age, Torture, Trials, War, War of the Ring, because plot twists, dark themes, past trauma, there might be other POVs, whoops, writing as i go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:55:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26689264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatdamnuchiha/pseuds/thatdamnuchiha
Summary: A new start was meant to await her in Eriador, along with the rest of her makeshift family. It was why they ventured there – in hopes of finding peace at last rather than the war they had all known for so many years.But the forces of evil are stirring once more as the Second Age of Arda passes by, and the land Sakura thought would bring prosperity might be nothing more than a passing fantasy. Caught between her past and the uncertain future which awaits them, Sakura struggles to come to terms with who she was, and who she might still yet become.The hands of time are ticking, the reach of the land’s evils growing, and the fates of Sakura and her beloved ones are caught in the balance. Facing the Dark Lord means confronting a past she wishes to keep buried but staying silent in Arda condemns her and her kin.There’s a choice to be made, and a destiny fast approaching to face.Evil never waits for the heroes to be ready.
Relationships: Glorfindel (Tolkien)/Haruno Sakura, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Series: In the Company of Elves [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1430875
Comments: 14
Kudos: 145





	1. where the wind blows

**Author's Note:**

> Well...
> 
> Here's another work for you to peruse.
> 
> It's going to be yet another long one - more so than the other works on the whole weirdly out there Glorfindel/Sakura pairing I have going on. Yeah. That ship is eating at my brain for one reason or another, which has resulted in more plot bunnies. Enjoy!
> 
> This will not neccessarily stick to canon, so be prepared for some divergence, and also this is yet another slow romance, and I'm trying to flesh everyone's characters out here which will hopefully add some more depth to this work. I have no idea if you'll get POVs from others other than Sakura, so be prepared for those Wild POVs just in case.
> 
> The title is not in any way meant to be related to the autobiography. I picked it because of the reason behind the words. It’s a hint as to Sakura’s past there with the whole caged bird thing. Given the comment telling me it’s not alright to call it exactly after the book by the same name, it goes by ‘Why The Caged Bird Sings’ now. This title fits, and if these words for some reason are tainted by association then that’s kind of ridiculous because I’m trying to use them as symbolism for Sakura’s previous longing for freedom. It's also referenced in the summary - with Sakura being the 'Caged Bird' and the singing being a reference as to not holding onto her 'silence'.
> 
> Additionally this work contains DARK themes, such as imprisonment, torture, and the like. It's not like I'm trying to write some fluffy romance here. The title is also a warning for that. So... like... I've adjusted the title as much as I'm willing to assuage someone's complaints, and to give it some distance from the autobiography which contains other heavy themes mentioned in the wonderful first comment on here, but I've said my reasons for keeping the current title.

The summer’s breeze greeted her like an old friend, rustling through pink tresses which fell to her ankles. Sunlight shone down on her, bathing her milky white skin in its warmth – something she had sorely missed for the last… however many years. Truthfully, she had lost track of how long she had been hidden from its light and warmth. Though perhaps it didn’t matter, what with how she was free to bask under the sun once more.

“It is still early,” the familiar voice intoned, and Sakura could only blink as a cloak was slipped around her shoulders. “You should be more careful, Mother.” Black hair, so much like her father’s, fell down to his back, secured at the base of his neck with a leather thong. Eyes the colour of molten magma stared down at her in concern, pale fingers coming up to tuck a stray lock of pink hair back behind her ear. “You have yet to fully recover.”

“Anorion!” A sharp voice rent the air, green eyes so much like her own glaring into the amber ones which soon matched his glowering stare. “She is hardly so weak as to need assistance from you – or do you forget where our strength comes from?”

Anorion turned then, teeth bared, and Sakura only sighed softly at the sight. “And who might you be to tell our Mother what she needs?” he snarled, spinning sharply on his heel, black hair flaring out behind him like a whip at the sudden movement. “Do we not have the same blood flowing through our veins? Tell me, what makes you so certain of her needs?”

Green eyes narrowed, a rumbling growl bubbling up from his throat. “You try my patience, _little brother,_ or do you forget which of us has been in our beloved Mother’s presence longer?”

“And who is the one who caused her more pain through his actions?” Anorion purred, a smirk curling at his lips. “I think you shall find that is _you,_ dear brother Glaurion. So would you look at that? Perhaps wisdom does not necessarily come with age…”

Red hair danced in the wind, wild, untamed, and free as the breeze picked up, battering the blood-coloured locks about. Pointed teeth bared themselves, a louder growl emanating from his broad chest. “I do believe,” Sakura spoke up then, turning away from the sunlight, coming between the pair of them. “That is enough from the both of you.”

Anorion blinked, shifting on his feet as he looked away then. “Yes,” he said softly, face lined with guilt. “Of course. I believe it about time we moved on from this dreary place… and this idle chatter will only delay us so.”

“I have had enough of mountains,” Glaurion muttered, stepping down from the very peak of the mountain they had climbed over in order to enter the unfamiliar land. _Eriador._ “Though I fear this place has many. How unsightly…”

“Lo and behold, my dear older brother, fearless in the face of treachery and deception, and yet cowers at the very sight of a mountain,” Anorion said dryly, sniggering at the sharp glare soon sent his way in response. “Shall you have Mother or I carry you down this fearsome foe of yours?” he asked, a cruel smirk playing on his lips even as yet another growl rumbled from Glaurion’s chest.

“Anorion,” Sakura said, eyes narrowing on the youngest of them. “Please do not tease your brother too much,” she cautioned, before turning her gaze upon the other member of their makeshift family. “Glaurion, kindly stop growling at your brother – or are you forgetting that we will soon be encountering others not used to such… beastly behaviour?”

A smile played on her lips then, and she only watched as the two looked away from each other determinedly. _They truly did bicker much like real brothers would. Like… Naruto and Sasuke…_ Sakura closed her eyes, willing herself not to linger on times long passed, setting her sights on the semblance of a path leading them down from the very top of the mountain they had climbed the night before. “—though there is only one thing more unsightly than this mountain – and that would be your face, _little_ brother.”

Sakura sighed yet again. _Glaurion could dish as well as he took, and Anorion was no different._ Troublesome brats, the both of them. Not that Sakura had any intentions of leaving either of them behind. They were the last vestiges of close family they each had left, and after years upon years of practical loneliness, Sakura was more than ready to have some permanent company. _Even if they bickered like cats and dogs._ “Do not let your memories of that place let them spoil the rest,” she said. “Indeed, the sunrise looks quite breath-taking when observed from such a place as this… do you not think so?”

“I suppose there might be some beauty to it,” her eldest mumbled, begrudgingly looking up at the golden orb high in the sky above, a soft grumble leaving his lips as he took in the sight and the warmth which slowly grew as time passed. “Not that I really care for such frivolities. Those are better left to the elves…”

“We may be encountering them in these new lands,” Sakura said, casting a baleful look at the pair who walked behind her. “Please do try to keep your manners about you, though I will be certain to drill them into you within the coming years, lest I be tainted by the perception of being accompanied by complete savages,” she remarked, a smile curling at her lips. “Do not forget the both of you are more versed in the common tongue than I… So I think I will have to rely on you, particularly Glaurion, I’m afraid, Anorion.”

“I speak the common tongue just as well as he,” Anorion grumbled, and Sakura only chuckled at the petulant expression drawn on his face. His older brother, meanwhile, had a contented smile pulling at his lips, much to Anorion’s consternation. “That’s hardly fair!”

Sakura sighed softly. “How about I let you braid my hair later to make up for this?” she offered, well aware it would hardly be wise to acknowledge the fact that Glaurion was far better with the common tongue than he. “If I leave it loose for too long, then there is no doubt the bottom will get all dirty. You could even cut it for me, if you would prefer…”

Anorion scowled. “I will not cut your hair, Mother,” he said, pulling her pastel pink locks free from the confines of the warm cloak he had lent to her. “It is much too lovely to be subjected to blade,” he continued, lifting the bulk of her hair so he could rub his cheek against the silky pink tresses. “But braid it for you, I shall,” he murmured, releasing her hair once more, and Sakura only hummed in agreement. The both of them were very fervent about her not cutting her hair. In fact, Sakura was terribly glad her hair had stopped growing just shy of pooling on the ground at her feet. Otherwise it would have been troublesome, what with the two of them refusing to take a blade to her much too long hair.

She supposed in some ways it was a taunt to that which she had left behind – proof that long hair wasn’t meant for princesses who merely waited in their towers for some handsome knight to come and rescue them. She had been mocked far too much for that, and the anger had burnt in her very bones themselves. It had taken far too long of a time to free herself, but there she was. _No longer did she have to languish behind bars. No longer did she have to fear the one who had ruled her life with an iron fist for so very long._

“Your hair is unique, Mother,” Glaurion reminded her as she continued to move down the makeshift path before them, glancing back occasionally to check on her boys. “We treasure it… and we wish to ensure no more harm befalls a single strand upon your head.”

Spinning mirthfully then, Sakura grinned back at the pair of them, uncaring of the rocks and stones which skittered down the sharp incline to one side of them. “My, so my hair is the reason you care so much for me, then,” she said, turning back around then, relishing the look on both of their faces as they slowly came to the realisation that she was merely teasing them. They were always so worried when it came for her love of them, each of them clinging to her like no other had before. She relished in it – their bond, that was – sometimes. She had been alone in the darkness for too long, and she craved companionship like a drowning man who wanted air. They would always be together in the coming years, and their bond would last forever, of that Sakura was certain. She would ensure it so.

For each of them could very well easily have been the explanation behind the other’s actions. Their fates had been interwoven ever since that fateful day. They were tied together by more than blood and consequence though. Her thoughts sobered at that musing, and Sakura could only hum quietly to herself. It was one of the few songs she had heard before, and it was such a lovely one, though unquestionably elvish, much to the irritation of the pair behind her. Though Sakura only laughed, the sound a high pitched tinkle. It was a sharp contrast to how she had laughed before she had found her freedom once more.

“Come,” she declared, a skip to her step as the ground slowly started to level out. A sharp comparison to the steep, uneven steps they had just traversed. “Are you not excited to explore lands we’ve never seen before?”

“With a bunch of folks who would likely gladly see us dead should they come to understand who we are,” Glaurion chimed in, ever the delightful ray of sunshine. _There was a reason she had named him Glaurion rather than Anorion._ Sakura snorted at the memory. _He had once been so small and adorable._ “Of course I am very much looking forwards to that aspect of our travels.”

“Well, should they attack first, Mother has given us permission to act in self-defence,” Anorion murmured, fingers twitching in a way that Sakura knew meant he was itching for a fight. Violence was in each of their natures, Sakura from her shinobi upbringing, Anorion and Glaurion from their own… disastrously misguided upbringing which she had barely been able to offset in the end. But she had managed, and they were there with her that very day.

Glaurion only sighed deeply. “That would cause Mother undue stress… and put tensions on our relationships with those in these lands, if you were to kill anyone, dearest little brother… You could never comprehend the meaning of moderation.” His lip curled, and he snorted in disgust. “Truly, you are a fool. Tell me, what would have become of you had Mother not intervened? What curious fate would have awaited you instead of this glorious one we tread towards?”

Anorion flinched, jaw clenching. “I could ask the same of you, _dearest_ elder brother,” he muttered. “Should Mother not have intervened, your fate would not have been a pleasant one either… but here we are, walking down a path which we are forging as we go… I understand you are rather terrified of this new strangeness, but please do not unduly vent your fears upon me. I feel as though Mother’s bosom would be more appropriate for you to weep into.”

“Says the little runt whose breath still reeks of milk,” Glaurion said, scoffing all the while. “Why don’t you hurry back to suck on Mother’s tea—”

Sakura clamped a hand down on each of their shoulders, smiling in that calm way of hers which she had mastered long ago. _She’d had far too much time to practice tempering her emotions, and she could wear excellent masks to conceal her true feelings._ Truly, it was a skill which would have been perfect, had she still been a shinobi… but instead… Sakura didn’t really know what she was anymore. “Please,” she said, smiling up at the pair of them who were annoyingly taller than her. “Kindly stop mentioning my breasts in casual conversation. You are both sufficiently old enough to know such acts to a woman—”

“I understand, Mother,” Anorion said far too quickly, ears stained a pleasant shade of crimson.

“Indeed,” Glaurion murmured close behind his brother. “I will endeavour not to do so within your earshot ever again.”

At that, Sakura rolled her eyes, knowing it was likely as good as she was going to get – from the elder of the two in any case. “Do not forget – once we are around others you will not be able to call me _Mother_ without it bringing up questions we will not be able to answer within our cover story,” she declared, folding her arms across her chest, still tucked up nicely underneath the fur-lined cloak Anorion had bestowed her with. Out of all of them, she was the worst when it came to dealing with the elements. Anorion, much to Glaurion’s annoyance, was the best of them at that.

“I wonder when we will come across the nearest settlement,” Glaurion wondered. “I feel as though the sooner our acclimatisation occurs, the better off we will be. Truly, I want nothing more than to hunt something. Or perhaps to instil terror into something… or someone. It is much like an itch, and I believe dear Anorion would be glad to scratch it with me.”

“Speak for yourself, weakling,” Anorion muttered, earning himself what had to be the hundredth glare of that morning.

Sakura sighed _for what had to be the hundredth time that very morning_. “Calm yourselves. You will both be in charge of hunting for our dinner tonight, and I trust that will soothe your instincts somewhat.”

“Well, I only hope we do not encounter a settlement before such a time…” Glaurion trailed off, risking a glance upwards once more. “Lest my dear little brother gives himself in to his desires and ruins everything.”

“Hold your tongue, you insipid little—”

Shoulders slumping, Sakura tuned the pair of them out, humming quietly as they ventured off towards lands unknown. A place where Sakura hoped would bring prosperity to them all, rather than the calamity which found them all far too often.


	2. the chips fall

Crackling flames were the backdrop behind the latest argument, and Sakura could only sigh softly as her two beloved sons went off on yet another tangent. Truly, it amazed her how the smallest things could set them off. Though she had swiftly grown accustomed to fact that they both seemed to care a great deal for her, though they viewed her in slightly different ways. Glaurion refused to see weakness in her, Anorion permitted himself to see those weak parts of her and tried to assuage her perceived weakness. Though she supposed Glaurion had long since learnt to blind himself to her sorrow.

She hadn’t really known what to do when he was twisted into becoming what he had – how to raise him, and they had both paid the price for that. Her, him, and the many others who had come after before she had learnt how to circumvent the horrors Melkor would then inflict on her beloved children. Memories of that cold cell of hers, the bars blocking the open space which revealed a drop of thousands of metres. Melkor had known she could survive such a fall, what with her abilities, and so it had been made impassable to her. Sakura shivered, wrapping her arms around herself as she got to work with unsealing the cooking equipment from one of the few surviving storage seals which had made the jump from the Elemental Nations to Arda and miraculously survived the following hundreds of years.

“We will have to move around a lot from now on – if we are to be living amongst the _edain_ ,” Sakura said then, interrupting the argument over whose hunting haul was better. “And if we are to be venturing anywhere near the Firstborn, then I will have to devise a way to conceal my hair colouring… I do not know whether they will be able to detect my illusions, and I will not risk our safety on a bet.”

Glaurion tilted his head, green eyes flashing as he ignored the look Anorion sent his way. “I have never seen another with such a colour,” he murmured, pursing his lips, looking rather putout at the thought of her having to conceal her hair’s natural colour.

It was only to be expected though. No elf had ever seen her before – what with her numerous _joyful_ years trapped atop a terrace of sorts upon the Thangorodrim. _No._ Sakura closed her eyes, recalling a buried memory from long ago, shortly after a haze of light had made itself just barely visible behind the smog and smoke which had blanketed Angband in darkness. _There had been two who had seen her once and only once._ A soft laugh escaped her. The dark-haired one had been there to rescue the redhead, and he had summarily done that. There had been no need to return to attempt to free her, because unlike the two elves, she had no relation to them at the time. It had been pure chance that she had been spotted at all, though they had been unable to remove her chains, and as such had to leave her there.

She had just been a stranger imprisoned by their Enemy. Not one important enough to drag an entire race into a futile struggle to free her, nor one who mattered enough for the brunette to attempt yet another rescue from that peak. _Though perhaps they would have if they knew what her blood had allowed Melkor to accomplish… what her blood was capable of._ Then, perhaps, they might have tried a little harder to free her from her binds. Perhaps it was a consequence of being an _outsider,_ that which her blood had wrought _._ Sakura sighed, rubbing at the skin of her wrist, and dimly, she wondered how long the bruises would stay. How long she would have to look at her wrists and ankles and remember her torment all but carved into her skin there.

Memories weren’t so easy to erase, and Sakura had no doubts she would _never_ be able to forget all that had happened to her in Beleriand. _Nor what she had pulled off through what now seemed like a sheer miracle in that great war after she had finally slipped her shackles._ “A shame,” Anorion murmured, fingers tangling in her far too long pink locks. He had a habit of doing that far too often. Sakura didn’t know whether he was fascinated with all hair or merely her own. It wasn’t as though Glaurion would let his little brother play about with his long, wild, red locks. Though Sakura was fairly sure that was out of pure spite. “But I suppose it is a necessity. Elves are unaging. They would undoubtedly remember a young woman with pink hair… and if they find you again some thousand years later it would be rather difficult to explain.”

“She could claim to be a descendant,” Glaurion offered, coming to her side to aid in her meal preparation. He picked up the carving knife, spinning it in his hand, a smile on his face as he spotted the jealous face of Anorion. Truly, her firstborn was terrifying in the way he had picked up blade skills with such alarming speed and proficiency. Anorion, much to his own displeasure, was more familiar with using raw brute strength in that form – when he had less natural weapons than his scaled form.

Sakura chewed on her lip, playing with the idea. “It would be a viable option, but only one with so many uses… after all, having a load of pink-haired descendants with the exact same face, built, and height would be rather suspicious. The elves are hardly stupid. They would figure it out in time.” She closed her eyes, passing the makeshift chopping board and the filleted pieces of meat over the Glaurion, setting her sights on the vegetables and other ingredients she had scavenged. _The boys were far too absorbed with the delights of meat to think about other flavourings._ Obviously, she had been the one to get the healthy greens – and other assorted colours.

“Yes,” Anorion chimed in, reclining back on the fallen log. _Or, perhaps more aptly, the log he had cut down earlier because it ‘looked comfy’._ “Mother is correct. Your idea is _stupid_ , Glaurion.”

“You both ought to get in the habit of calling me Lothien,” Sakura said, knowing they would soon be encountering the locals. The forests weren’t as thick as they had been when they had originally started walking through the trees – the mountains behind them. Something they were all glad for. Sakura doubted she could look at another mountain without being reminded of her imprisonment atop the Thangorodrim. Neither of her boys could forget either – not when they had spent their earliest years sharing that space with her, at least until they grew large enough to be of use to Melkor. _The one who had taken her few children out of her reach and twisted them into even more horrifying beings. The one who had bred her children together. The one who had been terribly annoyed at the fact each subsequent generation of children grew weaker as her blood inside them became that much less potent._

“Three guesses who will struggle more with that simple matter,” Glaurion muttered, rolling his eyes as Anorion turned on him with a growl. “Clearly I got all the brains of the family, whilst you, dearest little brother, were stuck with the brawn and the subsequent stupidity which comes with it.”

Raising an eyebrow, Sakura glanced over at her red-haired child. “Might I remind you that I am fully capable of punting you both through mountains, and I am wonderfully intelligent atop that,” she said, beginning the cooking over the actual fire – her preparation work complete.

“Yes, but you are _Mother,_ ” Glaurion declared _as though that statement made complete sense._ Sakura merely sighed at the burgeoning mother complex she could smell coming from the pair of them. “You are different to the lumbering oaf over there.”

“Your arrogance astounds me, dear _eldest_ brother,” Anorion said, crossing his legs as he watched the pair of them cook. “I am fully surprised you have yet to float off into the sky with how inflated your head has become.” Anorion sneered at him, amber eyes clashing with emerald green. “Do tell me when you need me to come and rescue you from your own obnoxiousness, and perhaps I shall oblige.”

Glaurion chewed determinedly, glaring at his brother all the while – at least until Sakura realised what he was doing and smacked his arm. “What have I told you about eating raw meat?” she demanded, glaring daggers into those green-green eyes which were carbon copies of her own in colouring at least.

He pouted, looking off to the side, showing that he clearly remembered _what_ she had told him about the consumption of uncooked meats. “Not to,” he muttered, confirming that he knew exactly what she had told him. He just hadn’t bothered to obey. _Clearly he was entering the rumoured rebellious phase._ She snorted at the thought. _The world would burn – literally – if they ever decided to stop listening to her._ Truly she wasn’t sure she could bring true harm to her children. _Well, her firstborn generation whom she had watched over personally._ Her shoulders sunk. _Glaurion and Anorion were the only two still surviving of that generation, and they were only still alive through her own intervention._ Through her own deceptions, both to the rest of the world and Melkor they were dead.

Anorion snickered then, pulling her from the dark spiral of her thoughts. “Now who is the insipid imbecile who cannot follow a simple instruction?”

“It tastes better raw… more bloody…” He swallowed then, a look of content on his face despite the glare set upon him by Sakura. “I can hardly help my preferences – you said they were a good thing, Mother—”

“Lothien,” Sakura corrected. “Please get in the habit of calling me as such.”

Glaurion folded his arms. “I will refrain from calling you Mother amongst any bar our family,” he said, taking her hand in his own, relishing in the skin contact. “I am smart enough to differentiate, unlike a certain hopeless fool over there.”

“Hey!” Anorion grumbled. “I can differentiate too!”

“I doubt your puny brain can even comprehend the meaning of that word,” Glaurion mocked, a smug smirk curling at his lips. “Go on. Try and tell me the meaning, if you think you are smart enough.” The scepticism was prevalent on his face, and Anorion only bit his lip, muttering curses under his breath as he glared at his elder brother.

“Tch.” He clicked his tongue, looking away, ears tinted red. “It matters not. Besides, are you not pushing off your insecurities on me because you have no taste?” he asked, glancing between the two of them as Sakura added the meat to their stew in the making. “If you just like the meat and the blood, then clearly you lack the refined palate needed to appreciate the delicious food Mother makes for us.”

Glaurion bared his teeth.

“Now, now, you two,” Sakura mumbled, taking a step back, rinsing her hands off with the water remaining from her trek to the nearby river. “You both have different tastes – and you are both learning to be yourselves. Let us try to refrain from setting each other back when it comes to discovering your individuality and free choice,” she said, smiling softly at the pair of them as they stared at her with such _love_ and _trust_ in their gaze. _Because she knew, ultimately, had she not been there they would be dead for one – and for another unable to have the freedom that they had._ What she had done, she knew, was only possible because of how they were bound to her by blood. All of her children had her blood, and with that she had given them _choice_. It wasn’t the freedom the rest of the races unmarred by Melkor’s hand had, but it was something, and she prayed that something counted for another.

Glaurion grumbled something under his breath, Anorion rolling his eyes, but all Sakura had to do was look at them with her _disappointed_ face and then they caved like the absolute children they were. “Yes, Mother,” they chorused together, and Sakura smirked at the begrudging expression on each of their faces. “We understand.”

There was a path set before them – one untravelled and unexplored – but Sakura knew they would be there for each other no matter what. _Blood was thicker than water,_ and the ties that bound them together were bloodied indeed.


	3. the yellow brick road

The pitchforks which greeted them were anything but a warm welcome, though admittedly Sakura had been prepared for such eventualities. Her hair was still an annoyingly pastel pink by the time they had reached that village, hoping they would be able to perhaps trade and make relations with the folk living there. _But if the growl – inaudible to anyone bar herself and Glaurion – rumbling from Anorion’s chest was anything to go by, then either it was they left or Anorion razed a village to the ground._ The latter was something very much to be avoided.

“We don’ have no interest in the business of the fair folk,” the self-appointed spokesman with the sharpest pitchfork stated. “Best be on yer way with yeh.”

“Well, this is a bust,” Glaurion murmured in what had become their favourite tongue – Sindarin. _They could hardly use the language she had taught them and risk association with their bloodied past._ “And who do we have to blame for that,” he hissed, glaring at his younger brother.

“It was but a slip of the tongue,” Anorion muttered, shamefaced at the memory of his mistake.

Glaurion scoffed. “Because you are a _complete_ imbecilic halfwit.”

“Speak in tongues we can all understan’!” the same farmer which had spoken previously demanded, and Sakura blinked as she felt a bead of blood well up from the spike which pierced her collar. Her hands moved lightning fast, grabbing her sons by their arms before they could do anything stupid. _Like transform from the permanent henge she had taught to them so painstakingly over the years._ They were born of her blood, so of course they could manipulate chakra as she could. _Though only the first generation could, much to Melkor’s disappointment._

“My apologies for having bothered you and your fellow villagers at this time,” Sakura said, nearly stumbling over her words in the common tongue. _She preferred Sindarin over the other languages she knew._ “We only wished to trade with you and perchance strike up a favourable rapport with you here… but sadly I see this will not be possible.” A smile forced its way onto her lips – years and years of smiling for the being who ultimately tore her children asunder having helped her perfect that polite mask she wore in that instant. It was a skill neither of her beloved children had yet to master, what with how hot-headed and liable to conflict they were. She loved them for that though, the way only she could as their dearest mother.

She had watched over both of them ever since they had hatched from the egg made from Melkor’s twisted sorcery and her blood woven together in song. _A terrible sound._ Perhaps that was why she had liked the red-haired elf’s singing so very much. It had been a sweet, and far too short of a reprieve. _But she was free now, and that was what mattered most._ Yet her children, and consequently her, were still stuck in the twisted threads of fate which Melkor had woven for them. They were beings made by the enemy, and as such there was no questioning the decision to slay them. _But Sakura wouldn’t let anyone take away her two precious sons._ The last of their generation, carefully hidden from the many a watchful eyes which had fallen upon Beleriand and the creatures her blood had birthed.

“Come now,” she hissed, switching back to their favoured language, tugging on their arms as she backed away from the threatening pitchforks and garden hoes. “Perhaps we will be luckier at the next village…”

Anorion growled, stalking angrily into the woods, wrenching himself loose from her firm grasp. “I should burn their village down,” he snarled, and Sakura sucked in a sharp breath as she spied the flash of onyx black scales which rolled over his skin as he longed to transform. “How dare they? How _dare_ they make Mother bleed!” he roared, a snarl rippling through the air as Sakura closed her eyes.

“Calm down!” Sakura snarled, baring her teeth then. “Or do you wish to ruin everything I have been doing for the past few years?” Green clashed with amber, and Anorion looked away with a scowl, hands trembling with what Sakura knew to be an urge to _rip_ and _tear_. Destruction was written in their very genes themselves, and overwriting such instincts, Sakura knew, was going to be an uphill battle. But then again, the future was set out before them – a blank canvas, an empty loom – and anything was possible. _Or so Sakura fervently hoped._

“Mother is correct,” Glaurion said, and Sakura turned to him, both shocked and relieved at how her eldest son seemed. “Stop being an utter imbecile before you undo all the hard work mother went through to fake your death. Or are you forgetting what lengths mother went to – what she put herself through – to ensure everyone thought you dead?”

Sakura smiled, even as the bickering started up once more. Evening was falling already, the day’s efforts wasted upon their immediate exclusion from the village. It had started out alright. Though really she ought to have dyed her hair a more natural worldly colour in that place. _They had thought her ‘one of the fey folk’ because of that._ It had been a lost cause from then on, and the final nail in the proverbial coffin was Anorion calling her _mother._ Sighing, she set about preparing their dinner once more, shaking her head at the words being traded over her head as she mulled over what she could cook right then and there. _She had years of being unable to eat foods she knew she could make, and so she was going to utterly make the most of her new freedom._ Though it was mostly intuition and experimentation on her part, given her current unfamiliarity with the wide variety of herbs and other food stuffs which hadn’t been there in the Elemental Nations. _Those memories were terribly distant and blurred._

It was a miracle she still remembered her original name, and those of her closest friends. Everything beyond that was a mess. The fact reciting their names aloud amidst the silence within her prison likely had something to do with her memory of her most important ones. _Well, aside from her precious children._ They had to take precedence.

Her gaze fell on them, an eyebrow raising as she spotted them wandering off into the forest together. “Do not venture too far,” she called, less worried about them meeting danger – so much as danger meeting them and promptly being fried to a crisp. “Dinner will be ready soon enough!”

* * *

“What do you want of me?” Anorion snapped as they entered the thicket, vanishing from the sight of _Mother._ She was the one true mother, Queen of Dragons, Mother of Dragons. He couldn’t quite bring himself to call Melkor _father._ Because he had never acted that way. There was no emotion of the sorts that Mother had told him of when he was still but a little hatchling, too small to be of any use to his lord.

The same lord he now despised, if only because that was what Mother did, and Mother had to be correct. She was perfect – everything he would ever want or need could be found at her side – and it was only the fact that he had to share her with a bothersome brat of a dragon that irked him so. Before Mother, and without her too, he had been nothing more than a tool. A weapon of destruction.

Now he had a chance, a choice, to be so much more. He wanted it like nothing else, and he would do whatever was necessary to walk that path alongside Mother. _He would protect her as he hadn’t been able to before._ “Well then?” Anorion folded his arms, always the little brat who was ever the dim-witted one. Truly, Glaurion – he preferred that name – couldn’t comprehend how such a dull-witted creature had come from Mother’s blood. “Why have you brought me out to the middle of nowhere?”

“Take a look, _little_ brother,” he hissed, leading the dullard to the very edge of the outcrop of rock. Clearly his brawny little brother had some sense in that thick skull of his, if only because of how hesitantly he approached. Had it been any other day, Glaurion would have happily pushed him off the edge of the little cliff, but he needed some muscle for his ploy. “We are hardly in the middle of nowhere,” he said, pointing one finger down towards the village a little ways beneath and before them. “Or have you forgotten how they made Mother bleed?”

Teeth bared, glinting under the evening sunlight as the obnoxious golden orb began to set. “You said that Mother was correct when she told me not to burn them to cinders,” he said plainly, and Glaurion could only click his tongue in annoyance. His so-called little brother was painfully slow on the uptake. Though, he supposed there could only be one of him in the world, lest it otherwise break from the marvel which was his genius. _Or so Mother had told him once._ His chest puffed out in pride, even as Anorion prattled on.

“How would you burn them, brother dearest, without giving away your heritage?” Glaurion asked. “Without ruining the image Mother wants to build here…? I would hardly care if it were only your image you ruined, but unfortunately you are tied to Mother and myself, so if you skew all the foundations we build, then you ruin Mother and I similarly.”

“Who cares?” Spittle flew from his mouth in his rage, amber eyes gleaming. “So long as they pay… If Mother was not as great as she is, then such a tiny wound could have been infected, and then she might have died…”

“Mother is great. She will not die from such a measly wound, foolish _little_ brother,” Glaurion snarled, stomach twisting at the very thought of Mother being thought of as weak. “Do not forget whose blood runs thick in your veins!”

“I would never,” Anorion hissed, teeth bared as they sized each other up yet again. Glaurion was a slightly more stockier and shorter build, contrary to the muscle head himself whose form was made relatively thin and tall. Truly, appearances could be deceiving. Then again, they were beings of trickery and deception. Speaking the truth while deceiving someone was truly an artform.

Though mother had been terribly saddened when he told her of what he had gotten up to in the world. _When she had slipped away from her prison in order to save him from the folly of his own making. When she had ordered him away to hide while she faked her death and snuck back into her own prison._ Never had he felt as helpless as he had. He was meant to be a being of strength and power, yet he had almost been killed by a mortal’s blade.

But he was there now, and he would protect Mother.

“So try and gain an ounce of intelligence and help me slaughter these insipid fools who dared to harm our Mother. No fire-breathing allowed. We kill them as humans do… and then there will be no trace of our true natures upon the scene should it ever be discovered.” Glaurion smiled, a twisted, bloodthirsty thing.

Because he was a dragon through and through, and he would not see harm come to Mother. Any who drew that precious blood of hers would be slayed without mercy, no matter age or skill.

* * *

Sakura smiled at her precious children as they dug into the meal she had so lovingly prepared while they had been… doing whatever it was they had been doing. _Probably hunting or something of the sorts to relieve their tensions._ “Did you two… talk?” she asked, slightly unnerved by the comfortable silence between her two boys. _Who were usually on the verge of tearing each other’s throat out._ It was an odd, but welcome change, if only because it meant they would become closer as a family. As they were meant to. As they had to, what with the rest of the world being against them. Well, if they knew what they truly were, and what her blood had brought forth to that world.

“Yes,” Anorion said, a smile on his lips, tension from before gone as he shared a secretive glance with his elder brother. “It was rather… enlightening.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess the pacing and the placing might seem a bit jumpy, especially towards the start, but I am trying to flesh out the characters of Glaurion and Anorion as best as I can. But, in case you hadn't already figured this out, though it's explicitly stated in this chapter at the very least - though they might be wearing human skins (a henge of sorts which has permanently altered their form) they're dragons... meaning their morals are very very skewed at times. An unavoidable consequence of how they were raised, so while you might not like their actions at times... there are reasons behind it. First and formost being that they're creatures of Morgoth (Melkor) and that they view life differently to the free peoples of Arda.
> 
> Updates, I'm afraid, will be perilously slow, and we will not be seeing any hint of romance for a loooong while. Worldbuilding, family drama, and just the general drama which is the Second Age of Arda come first. So buckle up, if you're sure you want to come aboard. We're in for a bumpy ride.


	4. and the body count grows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This entire work is going to be very veeery slow going, in case you hadn't guessed...

Sunlight bloomed above them, bright and clear as they readied themselves for the next day in Eriador. The mountains were far behind them by that point, though Sakura was sure the number of settlements they would encounter would only increase from that point onwards the further southwards they travelled, if only because north were where the dragons lay in wait. The same dragons which had a choice thanks to her blood, weak as it dwelled within Glaurion’s and Anorion’s lesser kin.

Yawning, she stretched her arms above her head, a fond smile playing on her lips as she spied her sons sleeping. Glaurion was seated upright, eyes closed, arms folded as he rested there, mouth slightly open, revealing those pointed teeth of his. _One of the decisions she had frowned upon when he had made that form using his chakra._ Though she remembered the men from the mist, ones who had wielded overly large blades, one’s skin a pale blue with gill-like markings, the other’s pale like snow in death, nameless now, thanks to her spotty memory of her life back in the Elemental Nations. Truly, she could only remember the particularly important bits. Well, what her mind had deemed important.

_Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, and Ino._ Those were the scant few names she could remember with clarity, and Sakura clung to them as best as she could. She didn’t want to forget them, no matter how the memories of frantically trying to remember them and her own sanity in the midst of her imprisonment were intertwined.

Sighing softly, she looked over at Anorion, a quiet chuckle escaping her as she spied the puff of smoke which occasionally burst from his nose or the corner of his mouth closest to the sky. Inky black hair pooled on the ground beside him, arms and legs curled up as though he were trying to cuddle something which wasn’t there.

Smiling still, she climbed to her feet oh so very carefully as to not wake her sons as they slept. They deserved blissful dreams after everything they had been through, and so she wouldn’t wake them until breakfast. Although they would likely smell her cooking it, and wake to that. Still, it was a nice thing to wake up to. Far better than blood, death, and war, as they had many times previously. It made a nice change, and Sakura was glad they had gone to Eriador – not that there had been much of an option, what with Beleriand sinking and all that.

“What should we have for breakfast?” she mused softly, glancing at the pieces of smoked, dried meat she and Anorion had tended to the night previous. Those would be fine for travelling rations – though with Glaurion and Anorion always ready and raring to go hunting… Sakura chuckled, the sound lighting the air up somewhat as she took to the trees. It was something she hadn’t been able to do for a long while. Neither of her sons could tree walk, and even if they could, she doubted they would be particularly fond of it. _What with them saying that trees were always to do with elves,_ and neither of her sons were particularly fond of the firstborn.

Branches passed beneath her feet with barely a whisper of noise, the need for silence and secrecy all but ingrained into her by that point in time. It was handy, and not something she thought she would need to train herself out of. Silence and secrecy were meant to be a shinobi’s best friend. _And those,_ Sakura thought amusedly, _were two things her sons really ought to learn as well._

But she had plenty of time to teach them so. They – well, the very first generations of dragons at the very least – were not simply slow to age, rather they had the same lifespan as the elves, bound to the flames of Arda deep below, and those, Sakura knew, would never die out. _And even if they did, her blood ran the thickest through their veins, and she was not bound to Arda in the same way all other creatures were._ She was an outsider, and though up until that very moment it had brought her nothing but torment, it seemed as though it might benefit them in years to come.

Humming softly, barely above a whisper, she came across the river, sharp eyes immediately finding the traps of the villagers of that same place they had attempted to visit the day previous. Her fingers went to her neck, to the smooth skin where yesterday the metal had pierced her skin, and she felt fairly little guilt in securing three fishes for breakfast. Eyes cast back in the direction where those villagers lay. She doubted they would notice the lesser number of their catch, but Sakura figured they owed her for both stabbing her, and for her stopping her sons from razing their village to ash. They were hot-tempered enough to do as such.

Sighing, she turned to head back to camp, but the wind blew then – a strong gust. Sakura recognised the scent caught upon it, stomach twisting almost painfully as that horribly familiar scent made her feet move. Blood. Lots of it. _She didn’t want to think on what it might mean._ There had been children in that village. _She had stopped them._ But she hadn’t heard anything akin to a bandit attack in the night, nor had there been any fire. “No,” she whispered, praying her gut instincts were wrong and that her sons hadn’t done anything behind her back.

The treeline thinned, desperation and fear lending her speed, and Sakura hesitantly henged her hair to a plain, boring brown, knowing it would likely be enough for the humans. She doubted it would fool an elf so, but then again she couldn’t be sure of how the humans would react to her chakra either, if at all. _She ought to have done it the day previous, but hindsight was always twenty-twenty and she was ever so cautious when it came to displays of chakra before others… because it was her chakra which had allowed her to cast that illusion. One which had even frightened herself._ All she was doing was scouting then, so she figured it would be fine if she were spotted briefly. _She could always flee into the forest if things turned south…_ But there was nothing really to turn south.

Not if the pile of bodies already collecting flies was anything to go off of.

Bile rose in her throat, thick and hot, green eyes narrowing on the tiny limb she could just about see mixed in amidst the adult corpses, and she lurched towards the bushes, hurling up the contents of her stomach. _She knew those kinds of cuts she could see leaking blackening blood as it crusted and dried._ She knew her son’s talons better than anyone, having seen them appear when their self-control wavered, and she was well aware of their ability to use them in human form with the barest chakra transformation. “Why?” she whispered, tears biting at the corners of her eye, mouth awash with the acidic taste of vomit. Her hands dug into the cold ground, stomach still roiling like it was upon a ship as she stared at her sons’ handiwork. “Why, dammit?” she hissed. _It had just been a tiny scratch – nothing to warrant that level of response. Nothing to warrant massacring an entire small village._ Her hands shook, tears streaking down her cheeks as she wept – because there was proof before her already.

The road she wanted to walk alongside her sons would not be easy. Their _father’s_ influence upon her sons especially ran thick. _Why else would they disregard the lives of others so very easily?_ The scene before her made it so very difficult to forget the fact that like it or not, her son’s weren’t human. _Sakura didn’t even know if she could still be classed as such._ She was the so-called ‘Mother of Dragons’, and her blood ran through their veins. Sakura didn’t know why she had thought that would offset any of the machinations left behind.

Fingers curled into fists then, eyes downcast, staring at the blood-soaked ground. Her shoulders slumped, and she wondered what exactly she was meant to do. It wasn’t like she could just go up to someone and ask them how she was meant to corral two fully-grown dragons who seemed to love her a bit too much. _But then again…_ She still loved them so very much, despite the latest _incident_ they had caused. She didn’t know why. Perhaps once she might have turned her back on them after such a horrid sight they’d made for her, but there and then they were all she had and she loved them so very fiercely. _Perhaps she loved them a little too much too?_ But they were family, and those never abandoned her.

Dimly, she could recall pale pink hair a few shades different to her own intertwined with black locks – _her father’s_ – and laugh lines, and lips crinkled up in a smile, alongside a light, cheery laugh. She wondered why that sound mattered so very much to her, and why there was a slight ache to her heart at the thought. _The memories were gone, eroded by time and the loneliness of her confinement._

A breeze danced through the village then, Sakura closing her eyes at the stench of blood and the onset of rot, and she climbed to her feet. She wondered whether anyone would discover those bodies – those claw marks – and what they might think. _She didn’t want anything to be traced back to her sons._ There were already enough after their heads, not that they knew they both still lived. Her eyes had ensured that. Sakura snapped her eyes open, red and glowing, three little black markings spinning within their depths, elongating and spreading as the small, foreign design appeared in those eerie eyes.

Dragons would have burnt the entire village down – proof they had been there – but she would only burn the bodies, neatly stacked as they were. Then there would only be a village of empty houses and bloodstains. Mysterious, yet not telling of _what_ had killed the village. _It would be how she would keep her family safe._

The pattern in her eyes spun, blood leaking down from her eyes as they always did under those stars. Her eyes narrowed, feeling as though they were on fire as her chakra blazed and surged towards the bodies in that technique of hers.

_“Amaterasu!”_ she hissed, and the result was instantaneous.

Black flames licked up the pile of bodies, the heat reaching her from there as her flames crackled and popped. Sakura turned away, staggering to rest against the nearest tree. _It was done._ She knew the black fires better than anyone else. They would burn for several days and nights, and by the time those flames flickered and died, there wouldn’t be even a single bone left. Just ash. _And that could be scattered on the wind._

Her eyes burnt, pain throbbing through them, as was the price for using that evolution of the sharingan in that world. The more she used them, the more blood she lost, and Sakura was oh so terribly small and light, with slightly less blood in her body than say _Anorion_. Her children knew that much too.

She needed to have another conversation with them it seemed. _About the value of life, or so it seemed._ Sakura could only wonder how she was meant to get them to see that other life had value – what there was to measure when taking that life away. Her stomach twisted, shoulders sinking as she gathered up the materials for breakfast which she had dropped. _Maybe, if she had taught them a little better, then they wouldn’t have done that which they had… Maybe if she had been a better mother, then those folk in the village would still be alive._

Sakura smiled morosely, feeling that much more subdued compared to how she had left as she made her way back towards their camp.

“Mother!” Anorion greeted cheerfully, and Glaurion stopped in his nervous twitching as she stepped into the little clearing and into their sight. Her youngest smiled at her, _as though he hadn’t helped his brother murder an entire village the day previous._ Sakura could only lament as she looked between the both of them so very seriously.

“We need to talk.”

**Author's Note:**

> SPORADIC UPDATES T_T


End file.
